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Redick murder trial to be decided by judge, not by jury

Andrew Charles Redick, 30, has asked the judge to decide his murder trial instead of undergoing a jury trial.

When the trial of Andrew Charles Redick starts Monday, tied to the slaying of a 39-year-old woman, at least one day will be shaved off the case.

Jury selection in a murder trial in Shawnee County District Court often takes at least a day, sometimes two. Prospective jurors are carefully questioned, some are eliminated because of conflicts of time, health problems and other issues until the pool to draw the jury from remains.

The jury is formed, and the trial begins.

Not so in the Redick case, because a jury of 12 Shawnee Countians and several alternates jurors won't decide whether Redick is guilty.

In a rare twist, Redick has asked to have the judge decide the verdict, and on Aug. 4, District Judge Cheryl Kingfisher granted his request to waive a jury trial.

Kingfisher alone will decide whether to convict or acquit Redick. Instead of a jury trial, it will be a bench trial or court trial, meaning the judge hears the evidence and decides the verdict.

Redick, 30, of Topeka, is charged with first-degree murder in the 2013 death of Lena Ann Keithley and arson involving the victim's car.

Keithley was found dead Nov. 15 in a room at the Country Club Motel, 3732 S.W. Topeka Blvd. Her car was found in Ripley Park in East Topeka. Topeka police said it appeared a small fire had been set inside the vehicle.

"It's very rare that someone will waive a jury trial on a high-severity felony," District Judge Richard Anderson said. Anderson, a judge for 15 years, hears homicide cases and other criminal cases.

"I think it's very unusual for a case as serious as that one" to be decided by the judge rather than a jury, Cathy Leonhart said. Leonhart was court administrator for 14 months in 2007 and 2008 and has been full time since 2011.

A search of murder trials in Shawnee County shows only two bench trials, the latest more than 12 years ago and the first one 21 years ago.

In January 2002, defendant Hal Bates appeared before District Judge Matt Dowd, who heard four witnesses testify and viewed evidence. Bates was charged with breaking into the home of Elizabeth Cowperthwaite, 85, and fatally beating her.

The judge found Bates, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, not guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, and one count of misdemeanor theft, all by reason of insanity caused by mental disease or defect.

Bates was committed to the Larned State Security Hospital, court records said.

In July 1993, murder defendant Joe Johnson, 72, waived his right to have a jury trial, and Dowd conducted a bench trial of Johnson's case. Johnson was one of three men charged with a botched murder-for-hire slaying on Aug. 30, 1992.

Johnson was hired by a co-defendant to kill the man's estranged wife, and a third defendant shot a person who answered the door at the house where the estranged wife had earlier lived. But the person killed was a man named Chang Nam Kim, 48.

Dowd found Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and six other felonies. Johnson, 92, was released from prison on Jan. 10, 2013, and died two weeks later, Kansas Department of Corrections records said.

District Judge Bill Ossmann, who was a prosecutor for 14 years starting in December 1978, recalled only one felony case being tried by a bench trial.

A Topeka police officer was repeatedly shot on Feb. 20, 1986, in a southwest Topeka neighborhood. Officer Tom Hren was searching for a burglar when he was shot six times.

District Judge Franklin Theis convicted defendant Marlin Houpt, 30, of one count of aggravated battery, court records said. Houpt was sentenced to five years to 20 years in prison, and was released from prison in January 1992.

Defense attorney Chris Joseph said asking for a bench trial sometimes is based on strategy.

For instance, a defense attorney representing a client arrested for soliciting sex via the Internet might want a judge to analyze the defenses of the case rather than jurors becoming emotional about details of sexual solicitation, Joseph said.

In addition to the bench trial, Redick also has insisted on his trial starting as soon as possible. Holton lawyer Richard Lake was appointed to represent him after another attorney withdrew from the case on July 1.

Lake told Kingfisher on July 16 it could be difficult for him to be "competent counsel" in the case by Monday, but Redick wanted the case to start by then.

Redick has declined to waive his right to a speedy trial deadline to allow Lake more time to prepare.